Friday, 23 March 2018

Public Voices to Foster Responsive South African Legislatures

The
right to a safe and protected environment and thecommitment
to a sustainable future are enshrined in the South African Constitution. While
many communities in South Africa are increasingly feeling the effects of
climate change, civil society engagement in environmental governance remains
limited.

Many South Africans believe that Parliament is the
institution where important social and environmental justice issues should be
heard, and yet how many of us know who our parliamentary representatives are
and how to engage with them?

The Environmental Governance project aims to foster
more bottom-up, participatory decision-making processes on environmental issues,
and encourage citizens to seek effective representation from the legislative
institutions, using them to improve service delivery by the government.

“It’s about improving participation of the public
and decision-making in South Africa, especially on environmental issues, and
trying to make the decisions that are being made more responsive and in line
with what the people want,” says Project Manager, Noelle Garcin, representing
FTFA and ACRP.“People have not engaged
with the legislatures enough, and we see now that the government has not been held
accountable and is unresponsive to the public demand for better governance and
better decision-making in a number of sectors.”

“It’s to get the public involved, the ones that want
to come out and challenge government on issues regarding environmental
governance.This is the ideal platform
to get them involved and connected, as much as skilling them in a way that they
can represent and carry themselves independent of SDCEA - and it’s a skill that
will be left in the hands of communities that they can learn from and pass on
from generation to generation,” says Shanice Gomes, Project Officer
representing SDCEA.

The project will be targeting the legislatures in
four provinces (Gauteng, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, and Western Cape) and national
Parliament, with a focus on the committees and units dealing with environmental
issues and public participation.Our
other target groups are local civil society organisations active in the
environmental sector, and local media.

“One procedure we are looking at is we want to
engage both the legislature and community leaders in terms of how we will work
together, and promote much broader communication,” says Sandile Nombeni,
Project Officer representing EEO, “The project will give better living
conditions for communities with much more efficient public participation, and
at the same time we want our legislatures to be active and engaging with our
communities in a very meaningful way.”

“Particularly in relation to youth there is a need
for increased knowledge and awareness on the legislature, and better engagement
and dialogue between civil society organisations that are specific in terms of
their focus on youth and women,” says Thuli Montana, Project Officer
representing SAIIA.

“We are going to work on two fronts.On one side we want to empower organisations,
preferably local organisations, grassroots, to understand and know how to
engage and push their agenda with the legislatures.On the other side we will also try to engage
with the legislatures and encourage them to improve their public participation
processes. We want more openness, more communication on what they are doing and
making sure that they understand their mandate from that perspective,” says Garcin.

In many South African provinces it is problematic
that legislatures are not accustomed to being approached by the public.The Environmental Governance project aims to
change that by building positive relationships with those institutions.

“We will also be running campaigns to advocate for a
number of issues that we have identified that relate to environmental problems
or climate change – and that will take us to 2020,” says Garcin.

The project started in January 2018 and will take
place over a period of 30 months.The
official launch event took place in Cape Town on 20 February as part of a wider
initiative supported by the European Union, which will see several
organisations foster citizen activism across South Africa for increased
accountability and good governance.

The African
Climate Reality Project (ACRP) is the African chapter of former Vice
President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project and is hosted on the continent by
Food & Trees for Africa. Gore has trained close to 600 African Climate
Leaders in Africa, from government, NGOs, youth, media and scientists across
the continent. ACRP’s aim is to spread awareness and action and mobilise
communities from Algeria to Zimbabwe to find solutions to climate change.
Through the work of Climate Leaders across the continent, the movement urges
people to take climate action now and communicates the urgent need for
countries to act on their commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate
Change. ACRP is building support through media campaigns and various events.
For more information go to www.climatereality.co.za

Food
& Trees for Africa (FTFA) is a leading Section 21 Social
Enterprise that addresses the issues of food security and environmental
sustainability as fundamental human rights essential to our prosperity.The organisation emphasises education and
skills training, which it integrates with sensitive mentorship and phased
support. After 27 years of experience in South African social development, FTFA
understands what it takes to achieve real, long-term sustainability and want to
make a positive difference to the lives of all South Africans. For more information go to www.trees.co.za

The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) is an independent,
non-government think-tank whose purpose is to encourage wider and more informed
awareness of the importance of international affairs. It is both a centre
for African and global research excellence and a home for stimulating public
debate. SAIIA seeks to provide input into policy development and promote
balanced dialogue and debate on issues crucial to Africa’s advancement and
engagement in a dynamic global context. Through our Youth@SAIIA
programmes the Institute seeks to give young Africans the opportunity to engage
with the major issues that confront them, whilst empowering them with skills to
become the continents future leaders, who can engage
in policy-making as they work towards a Southern Africa that is sustainable,
democratic, inclusive and well-governed. Youth@SAIIA currently
reaches over 6000 South African learners, students and educators. Additionally,
through our networks we connect to over 200 African organizations in 30
different countries.For more information
go to www.saiia.org.za/youth

The South Durban
Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) is a non-governmental coalition of 17
community and environmental organisations. SDCEA was launched in 1995 to unite
members in a common struggle for a healthy living environment and
environmentally sustainable and socially just development in south Durban.
SDCEA has been both unique and tenacious in challenging both government and
industry to address the inequities of pollution and environmental injustice in
the area. SDCEA has achieved a reduction in key local pollutants, the closing
of hazardous waste sites and secured fishing rights for subsistence fishers.
SDCEA takes education awareness, information sharing and capacity building in
various forms to enable independent community monitoring and research into
pollution, health and social issues. SDCEA arrives at positions through
democratic debate and aims to deepen participation in that debate through its
capacity building activities, to ensure that arguments are well grounded in
both science and community experience. For more information go to www.sdcea.co.za

Ekurhuleni Environmental Organisation (EEO) seeks to build capacity in
communities so that they can hold government accountable in all spheres.The organisation aims to create a broad
platform for engagement between provincial legislatures and communities,
especially on environmental monitoring, implementation of sustainable green
projects and community participation - and most importantly community ownership
of communication platforms.